Emergency-stopper eor automatic sprinklers



J. P. CASEY,

EMERGENCY STOPPER FOR AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS.

- APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, IBIS.

6.1? Ca se Patented Dec. 23,1919.

2 SHEETSSHEETI .Ezve Ja J. P. CASEY. EMERGENCY STOPPER FOR AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13. 1916.

1,325,507. Patented Deb. 23,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- JAMES P. CASEY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

EMERGENGY-STOPPER FOR AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 23,1919.

Application filed May 13, 1916. Serial No. 97,248.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES P. CAsEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St, Louis and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvements in Emergency-Stoppers for Automatic Sprinklers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to automatic sprinkler systems for fire prevention. It has particular reference to emergency stoppers for the sprinkler heads to prevent or lessen damage in cases where a head opens accidentally.

The invention has for its principal objects to produce a simple and etficient device which can be quickly and accurately positioned and applied and will hold against heavy water pressure sufficiently-to prevent leakage; and to attain certain advantages as will hereinafter more fully appear.

The invention consists in the parts and combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating practical embodiments of the invention,-

Figure 1 illustrates the device arranged for upright sprinkler heads, the device being in initial position ready to eftectthe closure;

Fig. 2 shows the closure completed;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the device;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through the handle and pivot brackets for the operating lever 5 is a view illustrating the device arranged for pendent sprinkler heads;

Fig, 6 is a view illustrating a further modification of the invention; and

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of an ordinary sprinkler head.

, Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, and Fig. 7, of the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a water supply pipe of an automatic sprinkler system. and the numeral 2 an ordinary sprinkler head. In the head is a diaphragm or plate 3 having a central opening, and on the head is a yoke 4 for supporting the spreader 5 and the fusible retainer (not shown) for the plug which normally closes the opening in the diaphragm 3. On'the two arms of the yoke 4, of some of the heads now in general '55 use, are lateral teats or protuberances 6, the

presence of which have interfered somewhat with the ready application of an emergency stopper, and the overcoming of this disadvantage is one of the meritorious features of the present invention as will be hereinafter pointed out.

The device comprises a handle or stick 7 at the end of which is secured a head 8. The length of the stick is determined by the distance of the sprinkler heads from the floor or place from where the device is to be manipulated. Projecting laterally from the head 8 is an arm 9 having at its outer end a plug or stopper member 10 of rubber or other suitable material.

Pivoted between two upstanding ears or lugs 11 on the head 8 is a rocking member 12 having a forward extension or arm 13 and a rearward extension or arm 14. The outer end portion 15 of the arm 13 is tapered, as

- best shown in Fig. 3. Rearward from this tapered portion the arm is provided with lateral projections or crossmemberslti on opposite sides and in a plane above the top of the forward portion of the arm. The arm is further provided with a semi-circular recess 17 to make clearance for the spreader 5, and the forward iuider edges of the projections 16 are chamfered or beveled, as at 18, so as to readily clear the protuberances 6 of the yoke 4 of the sprinkler head.

The arms 9 and 13 are normally and yieldably held in closed relation by a spring 19 which is looped under the arm 14 and over the rear portion of the head 8, and has its intermediate portions coiled about the protruding ends of the pintle or pivot stud 20 for the rocking member 12. Attached to the outer end portion of the arm 14, through an eye 21 therein, is the end of a spring 22 to whose opposite end is attached a wire 23. This wire iscarried through an eye or guide loop 24 on the stick 7 near the upper end thereof, and secured to an operating lever 25 which is pivoted on the stick near the lower end thereof or in such position as to be within convenient reach ofthe operator.

The operating lever 25 isbifurcated in the region of its pivot (see Figs. 2 and 4) to provide a slot 26 for the accommodation of the wire 23 which latter is attached ,to a cross pin 27 so positioned on the lever with respect to the axis of the pivot that it occu, pies a position past dead center in the direc'-' tion of the pull upon the wire when the lever has been moved to-the down position as shown in Fig. The throw or distance the cross pin travels from the upper to the lower position of the lever 25 is greater than the distance the arm it travels. The spring 22 is, therefore, stretched and in exerting a pull on the wire 23 holds the lever in its down position; and the spring is obviously made strong enough to hold the plug or stopper member 10 tightly seated on the diaphragm 3 with sufiicient force to overcome the pressure of the water in the pipe 1.

The provision of the spring 22 or some suitable equivalent resilient portion or means in the connection between the rocking member 12 and the operating lever 25 is one of the salient features of the invention in that it facilitates the quick application of the device, for it is readily apparent that it is only necessary to first insert the arms 9 and 13 in closed relation through the yoke a of the sprinkler head, as shown in Fig. 1, and then quickly, and without any special effort to locate the plug 10 with respect to the opening in the diaphragm 3 other than to keep the cross members 16 of the arm 18 as close to the yoke l as possible, move the operating lever 25 down and against the stick 7, as shown in Fig. 2. It then is only necessary to manipulate the stick 7, moving it slightly with an oscillatory motion until the plug 10 finds the opening in the diaphragm and is forced therein by the spring 22.

In Fig. 5 the device is shown as adapted for a pendent sprinkler head. In this form the plug 10 is located on the arm 13 of the rocking member 12, and the lateral position ing members or extensions 16 are provided on the arm 9 of the head 8. In other respects the construction is identical with that of the device as arranged for an upright sprinkler head.

It sometimes happens in warehouses and other places where boxes and goods are piled, it is difhcult to reach a sprinkler head with the stick 7 and head 8 arran ed in angular relation as shown in Figs. 1 to 5, inclusive. For this reason it is desirable to further modify the structure as shown in Fig. 6. In this form the arm 9 of the head 8 is in line with the stick 7". The rocking mem ber 12 is pivotally mounted in a recessed portion of the head on a pintle or pivot stud 20 The rocking member l2 is in the form of a bell-crank having an arm l3 on which are provided the lateral extensions 16 and an arm 14E to which the spring 22 is connected. The plug or stopper member 10 is located on the arm 9 and the two arms 9 and 13' are yieldably held in closed relation by a spring 19. In other respects the structure is the same as the two others herein described. This last described device is handled in ahorizontal position and is adapted for either an upright or a pendent sprinkler head.

The operating lever 25 may be mounted in any desirable manner, but it is preferable to provide it with trunnions on opposite sides, as at 28, and journal the same in apertures in cars or lugs 29 extending from bracket members 30 which are secured on opposite sides of the stick or handle member, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4.

Obviously the device admits of considerable further modification without departing from the spirit or principle of the invention as set out in the appended claims and is, therefore, not limited to the exact constructions and arrangements shown.

hat I claim is:

1. In an emergency stopper for automatic sprinklers, two cooperating members, one of which is movable with respect to the other, one of said members having a stopper thereon and the other member being engageable with a support to seat the stopper on the sprinkler, an actuating member having a definite stroke in operating movement, and a spring connection between said actuating member and the movable one of said first mentioned cooperating members, the spring of said connection being inert in the normal relation of all of said members, but being placed under excess tension by the full definite operation of said actuating member, whereby to actuate said movable member to, and hold it in, effective stopper-seating relation in any degree up to a certain maximum.

2. In an emergency stopper for automatic sprinklers, two cooperating arms, the one being movable, but in normally closed relation, with respect to the other, one of said arms having a stopper thereon, and the other being engageable with a support to force the stopper against the valve seat of the s rinkler, and means for operating said movable arm, the same including an actuating member and a normally inert spring, said spring being placed under excess tension by the operation of said actuating member so as to hold said movable arm in active open relation to said other arm in any degree up to a certain maximum.

3. In an emergency stopper for automatic sprinklers, a handle, two cooperating arms thereon, the one being movable with respect to the other, one of said arms having a stopper thereon, and the other being engageable with a support to force the stopper against the valve seat of the sprinkler, a spring yieldably holding said arms in normally closed relation, and means for operating said movable arm, the same including an actuating member movable on said handle, and a normally inert spring of greater strength than said first mentioned spring, said second mentioned spring being placed under excess tension by the operation of said actuating member so as to hold said movable arm in active open relation to said other arm in any degree up to a certain maximum.

4:. In an emergency stopper for automatic sprinklers, a handle, two cooperating arms thereon, one of said arms being pivotal with respect to the other and having a lever extension, one of said arms having a stopper thereon, and the other being engageable With a support to force the stopper against the valve seat of the sprinkler, a spring yieldably holding said arms in normally closed relation, an actuating lever hinged on said handle, and cooperative connecting means between said actuating lever and said lever extension of said pivotal arm, the same including a normally inert spring of greater strength than said first mentioned spring, said actuating lever, in its operation, moving through a definite arc and placing said connecting means under excess tension, whereby to hold said pivotal arm in active open relation to said other arm in any degree up to a certain maximum.

5. In a device of the character described, a handle, a head thereon, said head having two cooperatively opposed arms, one of said arms being movable with respect to the other, a stopper member on one of said arms, and one of said arms having laterally projecting positioning members on opposite sides thereof, said positioning members being offset outward with respect to the inner face of said arm and having their inner faces inclined inwardly from the forward edges thereof, the forward edge portions of said members being higher than the outer face of the adjacent forward portion of the arm, and means on said handle for actuating said movable arm.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set no hand.

y JAlWES P. CASEY. 

